An American British Maltese peplum war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom.
Greeks, led by Achilles, invade Troy, defended by Hector. They fight, mostly over one woman.
This film was just like the armies depicted in it: astronomical number of cast members, slow moving, impersonal and only concentrated on war. There was an effort to give the plot a personal dimension by the conflict between Hector and Achilles and the multiple love affairs of Briseis. The characters were pretty shallow, probably because there were so many of them. The video all looked fine, except for where I saw the CG and live action separating (picture). We all know that shit ain't real! It was all very high contrast. The audio was actually good. Audible dialogue with appropriate music that was mixed well. Pacing is where we run into serious problems. The old Italian hour and a half peplum flicks were bad enough. This was THREE HOURS! I remember trying to watch it before and turning it off half way through because I got so bored. Overall, a modern sword and sandal peplum. I rate it bad for military and duration issues.
An American mystery thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins and Greta Scacchi.
A man wakes up from a coma after a car accident. He has no memory of his personal life and his wife cares for him, reteaching him his past. As this happens, he slowly finds out that he was involved in a murder. He hires a detective to help him figure out what happened.
Pretty standard issue. The plot developed quite well, filling the duration with twists and reveals. The characters were not very deep, but very early '90s. The video was very much of the times and very standard. The audio was actually pretty good. It was mixed correctly, I could hear the dialogue and there was appropriate music. Overall, a regular movie. I rate it o.k.
An American disaster action thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss.
A remake of the 1972 film. A large ship is sinking because it has capsized. People try to make their way out through the bottom of the upside down boat.
This was very much like the 2005 remake of the same, but worse in all the ways that the 2005 version was worse than the 1972 original. The plot was simplistic: get out of the boat or drown. The characters were not developed at all because so much time was devoted to building tension and having action scenes. The video was choppy and fast. It featured close, underexposed shots that were edited with quick cuts. There were a few special effects with fire and water. The audio was mostly screaming and shouting with building symphonic music. The intro featured a white woman singing like she was black. Is that a reverse oreo? Overall, not worth the time it took to watch. Luckily, there were 10 minutes of credits at the end. I rate it bad. DO NOT WATCH!!!
An American disaster thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland and Kevin Spacey.
A military medical research team goes to Africa to investigate a new disease. It turns out that a monkey carrying the disease has been illegally shipped to America and has infected people. The disease mutates to spread more rapidly and tensions rise.
This is pretty standard of the disaster thriller genre. I would say even exemplary! The plot follows the rising action, showing people getting sick and military leaders freaking out about the disaster. Dustin Hoffman plays his psychotherapist role. Amidst the chaos, he is the rock of reason with Cuba Gooding Jr. as his sidekick. Even though Hoffman's character's own life is in the middle of a messy divorce, he remains steady. The video was very active. There was lots of camera movement and lots of quick editing cuts between simultaneous scenes and even angles within a scene. The audio was basically good. I could hear all of the dialogue and the music didn't get in the way. Overall, not bad. I rate it adequate. It would get a better rating if I liked disaster thriller flicks.
An American action thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich.
A secret service agent is on the case of a man who threatens to kill the president.
This was the beginning of the end for Clint Eastwood's acting career. He plays the "loose cannon" cop/detective. The only other character worth mentioning is his (way too young for him) romantic interest. They both piss each other off and end up liking it. The plot was boring to me and drawn out over two hours made it seem like it would last forever. Video was of good quality, but the camera-work and editing were nothing to brag about. The audio was similar. I could hear everything and it was mixed well. It just didn't float my boat. I turned it off at about 45 minutes because I had watched it about 7 or 8 years ago and didn't need to see it again to remember how bad it was. In accordance with my turn off policy, I rate this shit. DO NOT WATCH!!!
An American action film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman and Paul Guilfoyle.
The president's airplane takes off from Russia and terrorists posing as a news video crew start using guns. The president is supposedly ejected in an escape pod, but stays on the plane to begin a sequence of events to save the hostages from the terrorists.
Propaganda, pure and simple. They didn't even try to make it believable. The U.S. has rarely had physically fit presidents and the only terrorists are the ones hired by our government. So the plot is all shot to shit. The characters were anonymous and shallow like extras. All of them. Even Harrison Ford as the president was underdeveloped. He's way better off as Indiana Jones. The video featured heavy and obvious use of special effects, compositing and CG to achieve the outside airplane scenes. The audio was actually pretty cool. It had a triumphant "America always wins" main theme in the soundtrack and I could hear what everyone was saying. When the only positive thing I can say about a film is about the audio, that qualifies as a bad rating. DO NOT WATCH!!!
A disaster directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.A fishing boat sets out on a job and catches fish, but on the way back, a storm waylays them.There was a lot of animalistic shouting, as with any disaster film. I didn't find it very interesting at all. The plot was simplistic and the characters even simpler. The style looked like it meant to be a box office cash register breaker and the production value seemed similar. There was "doing important things" music with strings and brass and "disaster theme" music with drums added. I think the whole deal was a cheap ploy to make money. I'm rating it poor for not being about making a good movie.
A fantasy directed by Wolfgang Petersen.A boy picks up a magic book in a bookstore while hiding from bullies. He then skips class to read the book in the spooky attic of the school, staying there well into the night. In the book, a boy hero is called upon to quest for a new name for the dying empress before "The Nothing" destroys the fantasy world of awesomeness.I don't care how many reviews I just wrote, this film will never suffer that type of wrath. The plot is amazing and the characters are memorable. The style is magical and the pacing is perfect. I even type faster when writing about it! This is some classic '80s cheese, so if you grew up with it like I did, you'll like it as much as I do. Best rating!
A science fiction directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Dennis Quaid.A human and an alien crash land on the same planet during a war between their races and are forced to live together to survive.I personally like this film for it's sentimental value. The characters are good and the style works very well. There were even some humorous parts. I'm rating it adequate.
a war movie directed by Wolfgang PetersenA German U-boat with crew navigates the dangerous seas during World War 2.the audio was in whisper-blast style. the video was decent.check out: the fact that the entire crew starts the movie completely drunk.This was 3 hours long! At the 2 hour mark, I was very tired of it and thought "this has to end soon", but no. There was still an hour left. I'm shooting this one down just like ye grande olde Schindler's List. You've seen one submarine movie, you've seen them all: sub up, sub down, they encounter something, there are equipment problems, they fix it, end of movie. Yet every "best movies" site I read has this on the list. Das Boot is not worth the 3 hours it takes to watch it. I would strongly advise you stay away from this film.
